Amazon Admits To Giving Ring Videos To Police Without Permission

Amazon has provided surveillance footage from it’s smart-doorbell company, Ring, without consent it has been revealed.

A letter sent by Amazon to United States Congress earlier this month disclosed that they had handed over doorbell videos to police 11 times this year alone without customer consent.

Ring make what they call their own “good-faith determinations” as to whether to provide surveillance data to law enforcement absent a warrant or the consent of the doorbell owner. 

“We cannot accept this surveillance as inevitible,” said Senator Edward Markey.

“As my ongoing investigation into Amazon illustrates, it has become increasingly difficult for the public to move, assemble, and converse in public without being tracked and recorded.”

Ring currently partners with 2,161 law enforcement agencies (and 455 fire departments) that can request surveillance data from Ring doorbells.

“In each instance, Ring made a good-faith determination that there was an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to a person requiring disclosure of information without delay,” Amazon explained in a statement.

The company also confirmed that its “law enforcement guidelines” grant it the ability to “respond immediately to urgent” requests for cases involving imminent danger of death and serious injury.